Milton residents are collecting signatures to force a Town Meeting vote on the town's Flock surveillance camera program.

A petition post circulated in the Milton Neighbors Facebook group the week of Friday, Sept. 4, asking registered voters to sign a warrant article that would put the camera program before Town Meeting for a binding vote. The post noted a tight deadline to gather signatures, though the specific date was not disclosed. It drew 120 reactions, 17 comments and 369 views.

A second post that same week raised privacy concerns about Flock cameras aimed at private homes and included a link to a map tracking the camera network. That post drew 2,494 views and 80 reactions, according to a Milton Scene recap of the group's activity.

Together, the two Flock-related threads ranked among the 10 most-engaged posts in a week that saw 102 new posts, 234 comments and 608 reactions across the group.

How the camera program works

The Milton Police Department purchased 13 Flock Safety cameras in December 2024 for $39,500 out of its operating budget, according to the Milton Times. The contract runs through March 2028. The cameras are automated license plate readers that capture a vehicle's plate number, make, model and color.

MPD Records Manager Lauren Morrissey has said the department is unable to provide the cameras' locations. The data collected belongs to MPD unless the department grants state or federal agencies access, Morrissey said in a statement to the Milton Times in July.

Town Administrator Nick Milano said in July that "MPD is currently under contract with Flock and the department will assess future renewals when the contract is up."

No town official has publicly responded to the September petition effort.

Statewide and national context

Under Milton's Town Meeting rules, 200 registered voters can call a Special Town Meeting to address issues that arise between Annual Town Meetings, according to the town's website. Milton's Town Meeting has 279 members elected across 10 precincts.

The push comes as communities across Massachusetts reconsider their own Flock contracts. Cambridge, Framingham, Watertown and Natick have all ended their agreements, the Milton Times reported. Nationally, more than 150 communities had rejected or deactivated automated license plate reader systems as of early September, according to Newsweek, citing the anti-surveillance project DeFlock. That number stood at 95 when Newsweek reported on the tracker in July.

Milton resident Jack Kelly, who has been vocal about the cameras, wrote in a July 29 post to the Milton Neighbors group, as reported by the Milton Times, that "… there are some transparency issues we need to crack open and discuss." Kelly said he was not trying to vilify the police department but believed the Flock product had been misrepresented.

The petition organizers have not been publicly identified, and the number of signatures collected is unknown. A Special Town Meeting is scheduled for Oct. 19 on an unrelated historic district warrant article, but whether the Flock petition targets that meeting or a future one remains unclear. Residents can track Select Board agendas at miltonma.gov for updates.